Luca Engstler’s Nürburgring 24 Hours pace put Verstappen’s Mercedes in the shade
A dramatic Nürburgring 24 Hours featured Verstappen’s star turn, a remarkable Lamborghini recovery and Mercedes success
Team Abt driver Luca Engstler had blistering speed on the Nordschleife.
Philip Platzer/Red Bull Content Pool
Max Verstappen’s participation in the Nürburgring 24 Hours was fantastic for sports car racing as a whole. No fewer than 350,000 spectators descended upon the Nordschleife’s twice-round-the-clock classic. On the sausage front, an estimated 80,000 were consumed – that sounds impressive, but works out at 0.23 per person.
The key to endurance racing excellence lies in the averages. Around the 15.769-mile Nürburgring, amid the traditional fluctuating Eifel climate, it’s probably fairest to take a read of each driver’s top 10 laps from the race. Here, at the top of the pile, was the same chap who was quickest over a single lap in qualifying. It was in a Red Bull-liveried car. And it wasn’t Verstappen.
From left: Patric Niederhauser, Engstler and Mirko Bortolotti
The Dutch hero, in the Winward Racing-run Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo he shared with Lucas Auer, Dani Juncadella and Jules Gounon, was on course for victory until driveshaft failure struck in the 21st hour. That gave honours to the Winward Mercedes of Maro Engel, Maxime Martin, Luca Stolz and Fabian Schiller. But it could have been different…
A seemingly innocuous tap from Juncadella, within seconds of the start, gave the polesitting Team Abt Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo2 a puncture. Bortolotti had to veer at the last moment into the pits before he even got onto the Nordschleife for the first time, costing an estimated 2min 30sec. With Luca Engstler and Patric Niederhauser, Bortolotti went on a charge. They were classified just 2min 12.311sec behind the winning Merc. What could have been?
The Lamborghini’s slippery shape and a favourable BoP meant it was dynamite on the Döttinger Höhe straight, but this was still a sensational drive. Engstler and Bortolotti were the quickest two on the averages, with the German edging it. Close were Christopher Mies (Ford), Laurin Heinrich (Porsche), Marco Mapelli (Lambo) and… Verstappen.
“It was an incredible week,” sighed Engstler. “We dropped back to about 9min behind the leader [at one stage]. But I never gave up, and we’re here. That’s just insane.”
Driver briefing notes
A good month if you’re an Evans, plus a BMW 1-2
● BMW took honours with a 1-2 in the WEC round at Spa, the WRT-run team playing a strategy trump card. Robin Frijns, René Rast and Sheldon van der Linde were short-fuelled early in the race, and used track position to show their speed, above. Ferrari’s No50 was third, ahead of the No007 Aston Martin.
● Mitch Evans sits atop Formula E for Jaguar after two races at Berlin’s Tempelhof airport and two in Monaco. The Kiwi was one of the winners in Germany, Nico Müller grabbing the other for Porsche. Nyck de Vries (Mahindra) and Oliver Rowland (Nissan) were on top by the Med.
● Elfyn Evans is back at the WRC summit following the latest instalments in the Canary Islands and Portugal. The Welshman finished second in a Toyota 1-2-3-4, behind Sébastien Ogier, amid the Atlantic volcanoes, and was third in the Porto-based Round 6, where Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville triumphed.